I remember one night, when I was just out of the service, before I was married, a buddy and I were drinking beer and shooting pool at…a gentlemen’s club. *ahem* Yeah, it was topless bar, and a seedy one at that.

I’ll get to the point.

We’d stepped outside to get some food from a vendor and while we ate, the bouncer ejected a loud, angry, drunk guy and pulled the door shut.

The loud, angry, drunk guy stormed off to the parking lot. I remember I watched him as he went to his truck and I thought, Oh, crap. Is he getting a gun? He might get a gun.

Because, you know, if he were to come out of his truck with a gun, I’d have to leave. I’d have to leave before the drunk, angry bullets started to fly. I’d have to leave while I still had the chance to leave.

I stood and watched, anxious, until it was clear he wasn’t going for a gun.

And I don’t even remember what he did after that.

But, I remember that feeling.

And I’ll tell you; the idea of Trump as presidentgives me the same, exact feeling as the idea of a loud, angry, drunk guy with a gun.

I didn’t feel that way about George W. Bush, or about Mitt Romney, or even Sarah Palin. I didn’t like them but they didn’t scare me the way Trump scares me, the way Trump followers scare me.

I don’t know, really, what would happen if Trump were elected. Best case scenario, I figure he’d screw up much of the progress of the last eight years with his blowhard rhetoric and publicity seeking, while mostly sitting on his hands and letting his administration do the heavy lifting.

Worst case scenario, though, would be bad, really bad, angry drunk with a gun bad. He’s too much like Mussolini. He’s too much like Gadaffi. His followers are violent and angry.

16 Comments to “Opinions and A**holes”

Fortunately, feelings aren’t facts. Even if he was elected, which I think is unlikely, we’ve elected idiots, a-holes and crooks before, and the nation didn’t collapse. Americans are very, very resilient. The separation of powers in the Constitution helps too.

I agree. And, honestly, it’s not Trump himself who scares me the most. He’s a buffoon and a bully who will pander to his audience. It’s his audience which worries me. He and they get into a nasty feedback loop.

Like you, I don’t believe it’s likely he’ll be elected and I don’t think he’d set in motion the collapse of the nation. But, I can see the faintest beginnings of the path which could lead down that road. It’s just enough to give me that bad feeling and to make me want to stay wary.

Hoping reason will win out. We have safeguards against dictatorship. You are right. Trump is not as startling as the rabid followers pushing him on. On the other side of the coin is Sanders promoting a revolution to socialism and all of the folks imagining the freebies to be had. Hillary is promising more of the same. I will leave my country when they drag it cold and lifeless out of her. Stand up America.

I do hope we are above the tyrannical tactics of Trump. His followers are exhibiting the anger that has taken hold here, surely the majority of our citizens are above his rhetoric and he will never lead this country. Thoughtful post , thank you.

I have some of the same fears. I mean, on a basic level, I think Trump would be a bad president. I don’t think that being a successful businessman *coughcoughEvanMechamcough* necessarily translates into being a good political leader.

But that isn’t what scares me.

I think Trump would likely seriously alienate other countries in the world, especially because he doesn’t seem like someone who ever ignores criticism. I can see him getting into a playground retort fight with them. And his trade/military strategies (they should pay for our bases there) seem tailor made to anger our allies.

But that isn’t what scares me.

I think Trump wouldn’t play well with Congress, and that they would block most of what he wants to do. And I can see him getting tired of the games/work needed to accomplish things, and instead taking his case to the public. Where there is a group (well, a few groups I think) of ‘militia’ type people who think that the federal government is an unjust dictatorship. Who are just aching to have a revolution. To throw off the Chains of Tyranny. What they’re lacking is popular support (which seems to confuse them) and a good figurehead. I can see Trump, after encountering obstructionism and disdain from Congress, looking for another source of validation. And finding this group, who believe that government is the problem. Can you imagine the legitimacy a President agreeing with them would give them? I can see him setting off the revolution they are so dearly hoping for.

That’s what scares me.

I don’t know how likely it is. But I would have thought that Trump as a serious candidate for president was practically impossible. And I was pretty wrong about that.